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Survey Research Methodology

Surveys—from in-person to web-based, and discrete choice to stated preference—are an important means of collecting sociological, statistical, and demographic data. RAND has pioneered the use of surveys in several fields, including the development of the Delphi method of opinion gathering, and examined the statistical accuracy of various survey formats and web-based surveys.

This paper uses respondent-driven sampling (RDS) of drug users in a mid-sized American city to estimate the shares of cocaine (powder and crack) users and expenditures that are attributable to different combinations of these groups.

This report documents a culturally sensitive process developed to obtain informed consent from elderly human research subjects in Yucatan while observing U.S. and Mexican norms and regulations for conducting such research.

The Republican Party has a strong chance of maintaining control of the House and possibly even gaining control of the Senate. But survey results suggest that, while individual races may vary, support for Republican candidates nationwide may be less than support for Democratic candidates.

Recent survey data suggests competitions for both houses of Congress are too close to call. While reported probability of voting for a given party has remained constant overall, churn in individual responses indicates some voters are changing their minds.

Significantly more survey respondents anticipate Republicans will take the Senate for their state compared to those who anticipate Democrats will. However, there is not a clear difference in opinion regarding the race for the House.

Survey responses indicate many U.S. voters already know how they'll cast their ballots in the upcoming midterm elections. But RAND's unique methodology provides an interesting perspective on those who don't lean strongly toward Republican or Democratic candidates.

Today, Democrats are more than six times likelier than Republicans to believe the U.S. government should play a role in reducing income inequality. This is not due to differences in age, gender, education, or income distributions among the two parties.

Assesses the results of a statewide survey to determine language differences among California adults' exposure to suicide prevention messaging, confidence to intervene with someone at risk of suicide, and resource preferences.

This report describes development of the Hospice Experience of Care Survey, field test design, procedures, analytic methods and findings, and the final survey for national implementation by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Various surveys now ask respondents to describe their most recent purchase of illicit drugs, as one mechanism through which market size can be estimated. This raises the question of whether issues surrounding the timing of survey administration might make a sample of most recent purchases differ from a random sample of all purchases.

This fact sheet summarizes findings from a baseline statewide survey of Californians regarding their knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes regarding the mental health issues that are the focus of the state' prevention and early intervention program.

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Researcher Spotlight

Analyst

Hui Lu is an analyst working within the Choice Modelling and Valuation team at RAND Europe. She holds a Ph.D. degree in Transport Economics and Behaviour Modelling from ITS University of Leeds. With a strong quantitative and qualitative analysis background, she specialises in stated preference…

Technical Director, American Life Panel and MMIC

Alerk Amin is the Technical Director of the American Life Panel and MMIC survey infrastructure at the RAND Corporation. The American Life Panel is a representative sample of the US population, with respondents that participate in online surveys to support a variety of research interests. Amin's…

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